Atlantic Coast Conference OPPONENTS
THE TRADITION OF EXCELLENCE Consistency. It is the mark of true excellence in any endeavor. However, in today’s intercollegiate athletics, competition has become so balanced and so competitive that it is virtually impossible to maintain a high level of consistency. Yet the Atlantic Coast Conference has defied the odds. Now in its 58th year of competition, the ACC has long enjoyed the reputation as one of the strongest and most competitive intercollegiate conferences in the nation. Since the league’s inception in 1953, ACC schools have captured 120 national championships, including 64 in women’s competition and 56 in men’s. In addition, NCAA individual titles have gone to ACC student-athletes 130 times in men’s competition and 91 times in women’s action. If success is best measured in terms of wins and losses, then the ACC is unrivaled in NCAA annals. With Duke’s victory over Butler in last year’s NCAA title game, ACC teams have won five of the last 10 NCAA National Championships and 12 overall, including eight over the last 20 years. No conference has compiled a better NCAA Tournament record than the ACC since the inaugural tournament in 1939. ACC teams have posted an NCAA Tournament-best mark of 347-175 for a sterling .665 winning percentage against the nation’s toughest competition. The ACC is the only conference to have each of its teams make at least one NCAA Tournament appearance over the past five years. In the 26 years of the 64/65-team field, the ACC has produced 24 Final Four teams, an average of almost one per year and six more than any other conference. Since the NCAA Tournament was expanded to 64 teams in 1985, ACC teams have compiled a 249-126 (.665) NCAA record, including 66 “Sweet 16” appearances and 24 Final Four berths — all NCAA Tournament bests. Since 1985, 67 of the 133 ACC teams receiving NCAA berths have won at least two NCAA Tournament games. North Carolina leads all ACC schools with five NCAA basketball championships, followed by Duke with four national titles, NC State with two and Maryland one. The Tar Heels claimed NCAA titles in 1957, 1982, 1993, 2005 and 2009, while the Blue Devils won their fourth title in 2010, following earlier championships in 2001, 1992 and 1991. The Wolfpack walked away with the coveted crown in 1974 and 1983 while the Terps claimed the 2002 national title. The ACC has 10 or more NCAA Tournament wins 13 times overall, and the league has not posted a losing record in NCAA Tournament play since 1987. The conference’s 23-year non-losing streak in NCAA Tournament play is tops among all conferences. Since 1981, the ACC has produced 38 consensus All-Americans — 15 more than any other conference and has accounted for 25 percent of the nation’s consensus All-Americans (38-of-155). Seven of the last 14 and nine of the last 18 consensus National Players of the Year have been from the ACC. Since 1975, the ACC has had 16 consensus National Players of the Year — 12 more than any other conference. In addition, nine of the ACC’s 16 National Players of the Year were unanimous selections.
Last year, for the second time in four years, 10 ACC teams finished the season with 20 or more wins. The ACC is the only conference in Division I history to have 10 teams win 20 or more games in a single season. For the fifth-straight year, the ACC surpassed the 2.2 million mark in attendance as the 12 schools totaled 2,217,642 over 201 regular season games and six ACC Tournament sessions.
THE CHAMPIONSHIPS The conference conducts championship competition in 25 sports — 12 for men and 13 for women. The 12 sports for men include football, cross country, soccer, basketball, swimming, indoor and outdoor track, wrestling, baseball, tennis, golf and lacrosse. Championships for women are currently conducted in cross country, volleyball, field hockey, soccer, basketball, swimming, indoor and outdoor track, tennis, golf, lacrosse, softball and rowing.
YEAR IN REVIEW ACC schools captured an all-time high eight national titles during 2009-10. Overall, the ACC has totaled 50 national team titles over the last 13 years. The conference has won two or more NCAA titles in 28 of the past 30 years. 2009-10 ACC National Field Hockey Women’s Soccer Men’s Soccer Men’s Basketball Men’s Ice Hockey Men’s Lacrosse Women’s Rowing Women’s Lacrosse
Champions North Carolina North Carolina Virginia Duke Boston College Duke Virginia Maryland
ACC HISTORY
A year ago the ACC had 52 players on NBA rosters. In addition, over the past five years 45 ACC players have made their NBA debuts, including an all-time high 15 in 2006.
The Atlantic Coast Conference was founded on May 8, 1953, at the Sedgefield Inn near Greensboro, N.C., with seven charter members — Clemson, Duke, Maryland, North Carolina, North Carolina State, South Carolina and Wake Forest — drawing up the conference by-laws.
In this past June’s 2010 NBA draft, the ACC had five first round selections and nine players drafted overall. The ACC has had five-ormore first round selections in three of the past four years and has had at least one first-round pick in 22 consecutive NBA drafts. Since 1986, the ACC has had 93 first round selections — 13 more than any other conference.
The withdrawal of seven schools from the Southern Conference came early on the morning of May 8, 1953, during the Southern Conference’s annual spring meeting. On June 14, 1953, the seven members met in Raleigh, N.C., where a set of bylaws was adopted and the name became officially the Atlantic Coast Conference.
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2010-11 | UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI MEN’S BASKETBALL | HURRICANESPORTS.COM